{"id":32762,"date":"2019-02-17T13:34:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T13:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/17\/obama-energy-chief-has-a-fix-for-inf-treaty\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:02:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:02:43","slug":"obama-energy-chief-has-a-fix-for-inf-treaty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2019\/02\/17\/obama-energy-chief-has-a-fix-for-inf-treaty\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama Energy chief has a fix for INF Treaty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MUNICH \u2014 Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, said Saturday the U.S. has a path to salvage the tattered Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by agreeing to mutual inspections with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInspections are key to everything,\u201d Moniz, a critic of President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw from the decades old INF Treaty, said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. He was the energy secretary from 2013-2017, under President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrankly, the Russians I\u2019ve spoken with said, \u2018All we have to do is have mutual inspections,’ because they also have an issue, with Aegis Ashore and its programmability for treaty-violating missiles,\u201d Moniz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid fears Russia and America\u2019s exit from the 1987 pact could result in a new arms race in Europe, European allies are seeking to bring Russia back in line before a deadline in six months. The puzzle for leaders and experts at the conference is how to accomplish it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. announced weeks ago that it was retreating from the pact, reacting to what U.S. and European leaders believe is a years-long history of Russian violations. Moscow in turn also announced<\/a> it would no longer be bound by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\t